Short listing techniques used by online recruitment sites

Short Listing Techniques Used by Online Recruitment sites

Submitted by: Kamran Arshad , Faheem Ullah, Khubaib Raza, Tayyaba Siddique

Submitted to: Prof. Khusro Pervaiz

Online Short-listing Techniques 2011

Table of Contents1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................4

a. Objectives....................................................................................................................................4

b. Methodology...............................................................................................................................4

c. Scope.............................................................................................................................................4

d. Limitations...................................................................................................................................4

2. Recruitment Process................................................................................................................4

a. Traditional Process of Recruitment.....................................................................................4

3. Online Recruitment Process..................................................................................................5

a. Recruitment Process at Telenor...........................................................................................5

b. Recruitment Sites......................................................................................................................6

i. Brightspyre.com...........................................................................................................................6

ii. Rozee.pk.......................................................................................................................................9

1. Premium Select..........................................................................................................................10

2. Top Jobs.....................................................................................................................................10

3. Featured Jobs.............................................................................................................................10

4. CV Search Engine.......................................................................................................................10

5. Top Employer.............................................................................................................................11

6. Career Portal..............................................................................................................................11

4. Use of Social Networking Sites in Recruitment............................................................11

a. Just for attracting the sheep throwers.............................................................................11

b. Effective for Smaller Companies........................................................................................12

c. Potential to Lower Recruitment costs..............................................................................12

d. Wider Audience........................................................................................................................12

e. Retention Factor......................................................................................................................12

f. Downsides of Social Media..................................................................................................13

g. Implementing a Social Media Strategy............................................................................13

h. Evaluation not a Revolution................................................................................................14

i. Using Twitter in Recruitment..............................................................................................14

j. Using LinkedIn in Recruitment...........................................................................................15

k. Using Facebook in Recruitment.........................................................................................15

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5. Key Techniques used in Short-listing...............................................................................16

a. Keyword Search.......................................................................................................................17

i. Rule #1 Put Phrases in Quotes...................................................................................................17

ii. Rule #2 Use NOT to Exclude Words or Phrases..........................................................................18

iii. Rule #3 AND and OR Connect Terms; Parentheses Group Terms Together...............................18

b. Concept search........................................................................................................................18

i. How Concept Search Works.......................................................................................................19

ii. Concept Cloud...........................................................................................................................19

6. Recommendations..................................................................................................................20

a. Advantages...............................................................................................................................20

b. Disadvantages..........................................................................................................................21

c. The Impact and Implications of Online Recruitment..................................................21

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1. Introduction

a. Objectives

The objective of this research is to analyze the short listing techniques used by the online recruitment sites. This research project is a requirement of Human Resource Management in Technological Concerns

b. Methodology

The methodology followed for collecting information is as follows:

Interaction with concerned HR people of Telenor, Pakistan and other employers.

Online recruitment sites like Brightspyre, Rozee and Nookri Research on the social networking sites like linkedin and facebook

c. Scope

In our study, we shall focus on the techniques used by some of the leading online recruitment sites of IT and Telecom Industry of Pakistan and identify the strong and weak areas that can help in improving the short-listing process.

d. Limitations

2. Recruitment Processa. Traditional Process of Recruitment

Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. The stages in recruitment include sourcing candidates by advertising or other methods, screening potential candidates using tests and/or interviews, selecting candidates based the results of the

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tests and/or interviews, and on-boarding to ensure the candidate is able to fulfill their new role effectively

3. Online Recruitment Process

a. Recruitment Process at Telenor

E-recruitment is based on online application system; it can be retrieved by using the Career tab in Telenor Pakistan website. An online application system requires the jobseekers to create their profile in which they are required to mention different fields regarding professional and personal details. A notification concerning profile setup of the candidate is done by sending e-mail to the person created profile. They can apply for the display deviancies once they have created their profiles with logins.

The recruitment manager then evaluates these profiles of candidates who have applied for the particular vacancies in order to call the relevant employees suitable for the job. The evaluation of the employees is based on fair and on merit basis .All aspects of employment with Telenor are administered by merit, competence, suitability and qualifications, and will not be influenced in any manner by gender, age, race, color, religion, national origin or disability. It is a fair evaluation, which is making Telenor to create a competitive edge

Steps in selection procedure:

STEP1: Recruitment processSTEP 2: Collecting CV’sSTEP 3: Short listing of applicants as per job descriptionSTEP 4: Interview calls madeSTEP 5: Short listing of applicants in first interviewSTEP 6: Second interview with supervisor STEP 7: Final interview with the head of departmentSTEP 8: Formal offer made to the selected candidatesSTEP 9: Reference checkSTEP 10: OrientationSTEP 11: Candidate handed over to immediate supervisor

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b. Recruitment Sites

i. Brightspyre.com

BrightSpyre is Pakistan’s premier online hiring solution since its successful launch in 2002. It is not just about posting jobs online, it is all about making the process of recruitment painless and paperless. It equips employers with an automated solution to advertise, collect, filter and finally select the right candidate through thousands of online resumes. Best of all, it is cheaper than print advertisement, which makes it extremely effective and efficient both in terms of cost as well as time.

BrightSpyre’s page views have also grown tremendously over time and now average 1,000,000 a month. The fast growing job seeker membership base has also swelled to 500,000 and we are adding 10,000 new job seekers each month. The system has also registered over one million job applications from aspiring candidates in the past five years. These statistics alone place BrightSpyre among one of the fastest growing and the largest hiring portals in the region.

BrightSpyre employer database has also grown tremendously encompassing organizations from as diverse sectors as government, development, Information Technology, Telecommunications, FMCG, Construction, Oil and Gas among others. Currently, one of The largest and most active employer base is from the development sector. This includes organizations like OGDCL, AWT, PTCL, United Nations, Worldvision, Oxfam, Pakistan Tobacco, Ufone, Shlumberger, Uch Power, and Cybernet among others, who have been hiring regularly all over Pakistan.

The system has been able to match candidates for them in big cities as well as numerous remote locations including Besham, Mansehra, Bagh, Gilgit, Muzzafarabad etc. The system was also at the forefront when it assisted organizations like UN Volunteers, RedR, Helping Hands and many other relief agencies to hire candidates quickly in response to the earthquake disaster in Northern Pakistan (2005).

BrightSpyre is an ISO-9001-2000 certified company and the only hiring portal in the country with CISSP certified security professionals on board.

The following are some of the key features that are part of the Brightspyre job Portal for any company

a. Job Postings

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The Job postings module includes the following features.

Job title Company Name, and location Begin and end date for which duration applications will be received Age preferences Complete job description

b. Applications Section

In this section all online applications for various jobs are processed and managed.

Application Summary Page

This page will show all the recently posted jobs by the employer. It will also list all the pertinent and live information related to the applicants. The information accessible to the employer shall include:

o Job Titleo Posted by whom within the organizationo The Start and End date for the job.o How many applications have been received so faro How many applications were received todayo How many times the job description was viewed.o What is the median salary demanded by the job seekers.

Resume Summary

On this page, a summary list of all applications received for that particular job shall be displayed. It will include their

o Full Nameo Contact information and locationo Experience (if any)o Work Historyo Educational qualifications

This is an additional feature which is generated on the fly for the users. We extract this information from the resume and make it available to employers so that they can glance through the whole application list in a few minutes.

At the same time, the detailed resume is also available by clicking on the resume title of the user in the list.

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Report and Filters

Brightspyre provides a quick and easy way to filter and search for targeted applicants. A quick filtered list of candidates can be created from all of applicants for that particular job. In other words, the system provides search and seek out targeted candidates mechanism from hundreds of applicants who have applied for any particular job in a matter of minutes.

Let’s say if you require someone with at least two years of experience as a Financial Analyst who has a Masters Degree and is currently located within Pakistan, you can simply place this information in the form and from 100s of resumes, can get a shortlist of candidates that meet that requirement.

Shortlists

The system allows Companies to create various types of lists. These lists can be of type Short-lists, long-lists, reject-list, selected list etc. The administrator of the Company can create as many different types of lists as he/she likes. For example lists can be created for interviews for tests and for any other activity during the recruitment cycle.

There is a separate section to create a grading scale for each job. That grading criteria can then be utilized to give points/marks to candidates based on the performance during an interview or a test. These records will be kept online against each job for future reference at any given time.

Communication Services

The employer can also communicate directly with the users through the communication interface. They can send out automatic messages like regret letters, selection letters and interview call letters. This way, there is no need to send lengthy paper based letters to job seekers.

c. Roster of Candidates

This interface allows Companies to manage an online database of potentially good candidates. The system allows the following Roaster types:

General pools (with all candidates) that have applied online. Potentially good candidates who could be searched for any future

openings

d. Database Search Modules

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A comprehensive search facility to seek targeted candidates from the roster is available. This search enables Companies to quickly seek out good candidates within minutes.

e. Job Posting Features

Quick and easy method to applyo The potential job seeker shall be provided with numerous

methods to apply for a job. Applied / Acknowledgement

o Once the candidate applies for any specific job, They receive an automatic acknowledgement upon submission of their application.

o Only one application per job posting is acceptable. Support trouble ticket creation and management

o Incase if the candidate is facing problems while applying, they can create an automatic trouble ticket explaining the issue.

o The ticket will be reviewed and responded within a reasonable span of time.

o The trouble ticket monitors specifically the following issues Reporting a bug in the system Unable to apply for a job or ability to use any feature

provided. Feedback from the job seeker over any feature Suggestions from the jobseeker for possible

enhancements.

ii. Rozee.pk

ROZEE.PK is Pakistan’s #1 Jobsite. The site offers job seekers the ability to find the best jobs available in Pakistan and regularly features listings from the country’s top employers. Employers are easily able to connect with top talent by using ROZEE.PK s CV Search Engine and other Premium Recruitment Tools.

As Of November Alexa Stats Ranked Rozee.pk No. 26 in Pakistan with an overall Alexa Rank of #5243 and an approx of 98% of its traffic originate from Pakistan (Source)

Google Trends indicates an estimated of 8000 visitors each day that is highly speculative however give a rough idea about the statistics of site visitors, here is google trends chart.

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http://google.com/trends

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/main/rozee.pk


Rozee.pk provides the following products for Employers

1. Premium Select

Jobs are reserved for top jobs from the employers, ROZEE.PK's team of specialists short list the best candidates for Employer’s advertised position from the candidates received and conduct preliminary phone screening to establish up to date credentials as well as interest for particular job opportunity.

2. Top Jobs

The job’s opening get star prominence on the website. The jobs and company logo are displayed prominently on front page. Increase candidate response up to three times more than standard job postings

3. Featured Jobs

Featured Job offers excellent ROI for cost conscious small enterprises. By making a job Featured, employer can access ALL CVs from the applicant pool.

4. CV Search Engine

The feature allows Scanning through the available of CVs in ROZEE.PK's database to find the best match. By reaching out pro-actively employer can secure the highly sought after passive candidates that don't usually respond to advertisements. Advanced Search options and Google like scan technology gives more accuracy in finding the right person for the job in seconds

5. Top Employer

Top Employer packages are designed to give a magnetic branding with a large company logo on ROZEE.PK's front page. A Top Employer's brand image is carefully

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constructed to communicate excellence. With access to Unlimited Job Postings, Virtually Unlimited* access to all CVs in ROZEE.PK database and ERP-like recruitment tools

6. Career Portal

With ROZEE.PK's career portal a custom built career website is also provided that reflects the company brand colors and themes. A professional job site helps in strengthening the online identity and helps reach quality candidates who want to know about the company and are worthy of the recruiting efforts. The career portal is integrated with the Employer’s online site and powered by ROZEE.PK

4. Use of Social Networking Sites in Recruitment

If you have vacancies that you're struggling to fill, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn could be the missing ingredient in your recruitment strategy. But how should you go about implementing a social media recruitment campaign?

As recruitment freezes begin to thaw and the economy starts to pull itself out of recession, HR managers are looking for new avenues to reach the candidates they need.

The use of social media as a recruitment tool has taken off in recent years with a number of high-profile companies turning to social sites when they're hiring

a. Just for attracting the sheep throwers

There is a global war for talent and it is believed that to gain an advantage companies need to develop long-term relationships with candidates. Social networking sites are one of the key enablers in achieving this

But it's not just the big names using social sites to access a new talent pool. According to LinkedIn, smaller companies are using the professional networking site's tools to recruit new talent, along with more than 25 per cent of the FTSE 100 in the UK and 50 per cent of the Fortune 100 in the US.

"In terms of company size, we have everything from companies with £100bn valuations to agencies and clients that have two or three people," says Ariel Eckstein, LinkedIn's MD of hiring solutions Europe.

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b. Effective for Smaller Companies

It's often easier for smaller, younger companies to test the social media waters as they have fewer company HR policies in place to battle with. "Obviously in small companies it's very easy to make decisions, especially for the founders of these start-ups who are the early adopters of technology, who use a lot of these applications, who are the iPod generation - they get into it very quickly," he says

c. Potential to Lower Recruitment costs

Even people who are new to social media will probably know that accounts on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are all free to set up, so an obvious advantage of social media is its potential to lower recruitment costs. HR managers therefore are unlikely to face any grumblings from the CFO when planning a social media recruitment campaign.

d. Wider Audience

A huge benefit of social media recruitment cited by companies is the ability to reach a wide audience, and in particular passive jobseekers.

According to LinkedIn's Eckstein, only 10 to 20 per cent of professionals are actively looking for new employment at any one time. That leaves 80 per cent of professionals not seeking a job yet potentially perfect for the role you're trying to fill - and who might be tempted to apply if only they knew you had a vacancy.

By making use of Twitter, Facebook et al, companies are more likely to get their vacancy in front of passive job hunters, thereby opening up the pool of potential recruits they can draw from.

e. Retention Factor

The recruitment process doesn't end when you've made your hire: a measure of its success is how long new recruits remain at the company.

So ensuring long-term employee retention is an important element in any recruitment strategy and it's another area where social networking recruitment can help.

The use of social media throughout the recruitment process also allows potential recruits to get a feel for what the company is like before they join.

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By encouraging potential recruits to get to know the culture of a company before they make the decision to apply or, indeed, accept a position, social media should help in making sure the candidate is the right fit for the company – and vice versa.

f. Downsides of Social Media

The open nature of social media also has its downsides. While it allows companies to build their brand and broadcast their message widely, it also opens them up to public criticism.

HR managers must remember if they decide to get active on social media as a way to recruit and create an open dialogue between the company and potential candidates, not all this dialogue will be positive.

With social media you are not in control of what people are talking about and what people are writing about. You can control what's written on your website, but you can't control social media. Anyone can write something publicly about your recruitment process

Before proceeding with a social media recruitment campaign businesses must ensure they have the resources in place to deal with feedback - especially negative feedback. When people ask questions, do you reply to them quickly and if people make suggestions, can you say OK, we'll listen and we'll fix that'? People like to be heard.

g. Implementing a Social Media Strategy

For those considering diving into social media, it's important to be aware that not all social sites are created equal: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs are all separate tools that may warrant different approaches.

One way to determine what tools are right for you is to decide who it is you are trying to attract and tailor your strategy to that particular group.

You might find that a graduate is more likely to be using Facebook for example and an experienced hire might be more likely to be using LinkedIn, so it's ensuring that you look at the channels for the best way to reach the people that you need.

Of course, that's not to say that these avenues cannot be combined. Once you have considered the benefits of them and how to make them work for you, also consider if two different tools can complement each other

h. Evaluation not a Revolution

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Ensure you treat social media recruitment as part of your overall hiring strategy. It is not a complete replacement and should be combined with other methods.

Social media recruiting is still relatively new, probably three or four years old. So for now it's an enhancement, it's not going to push away traditional methods, but along the way, probably five or 10 years' time there will be a marked shift towards social.

Companies that are dipping their toes in it now will start seeing a return on investment; perhaps start cutting back on agencies, cancel contracts with job boards. Eventually social will grow, but for now it's an enhancement.

i. Using Twitter in Recruitment

For the first steps into Twitter as a recruitment tools is to set up an account with my Company name, my logo, and a few little interesting tweets on there as a bit of a taster for people and then people would start following [others]. You have to invest the time to think about what you're tweeting because if you don't have any followers, no one is going to read what you're writing."

Should you then just follow every Tom, Dick and Harry out there in the hopes that your followers will grow? While there are advantages to having lots and lots of followers - your company brand will grow, for example - it is worthwhile targeting people to follow who work in the industry, people who may have the skills you need - or who may be linked to those people.

They can pick up that there's an event happening and look at the hashtags for the event, then go and follow people who are talking at the event so that you are following people who are within the specialist area. The hope is that they will then follow the company back and then will help in building my following list

If you're using the right hashtags you can reach people you have struggled to reach out to before

j. Using LinkedIn in Recruitment

LinkedIn bills itself as a professional networking tool, so it's already geared up to help companies connect with potential employees.

First, HR managers should check their company profile on LinkedIn to see the first impression candidates are receiving of the company when they land on the page. Company pages list current employees, past employees, new hires and promotions and changes to staff. New job postings can be also be advertised there, as well as information on the company to help potential recruits.

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If there isn't a company profile already listed, set one up by going to the companies homepage on LinkedIn and clicking the 'Add a company' button on the right-hand side. Once your company profile has been created, make sure you keep it up to date and edit regularly with job postings and updates on the company.

Like Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn can be used not only to hire candidates directly but also to build a company brand. Encouraging employees to be on LinkedIn is another good way to build the company brand and make use of the connections and contacts staff have already built in their previous careers.

Making use of groups on LinkedIn is a good way to attract staff, and especially useful for finding employees with specialist skills that you might otherwise have trouble finding.

k. Using Facebook in Recruitment

Similar to LinkedIn and Twitter, having a Facebook presence is a mechanism for conveying your company culture to potential recruits and attracting new staff.

If a candidate is looking to find information about a company, one place they may turn to is Facebook, so make sure your company is represented and the page looks loved. There is no point having a Facebook page that was updated three years ago with one sad, lonely wall post and no 'likes', make sure you have the resources in the company to cope with the demand of having a Facebook page. If your page is open to the public, anyone can post comments or links on the page - so you need to keep an eye on any bad publicity you may receive and respond to people if necessary. As noted earlier, people like to feel they are being listened to, so if a comment is made on Facebook - good or bad - you must make sure your company is responding.

You can choose to keep your company page private - and people must request to 'Join' before they can make comments or participate in the group. This option has the benefit of cutting down on people who are not really interested in the company and who might post unsuitable remarks on the group. However, some may argue that keeping it closed goes against the fundamental open nature of social networking - which some may read as negative.

If you decide to keep your Facebook page open, instead of joining a group, people can 'Like' your page. Once users like a page, they will be notified of any updates posted to the group.

Encourage your employees to post comments and be active on Facebook, which will give potential recruits an idea of the type of employees and company culture. Don't

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just use your wall to advertise job vacancies - use it to keep people interested, so when a job arises more people will be active on the page and will see the job post.

5. Key Techniques used in Short-listing

When it comes to filling a job opening, there is an old adage that there are two ways to find a candidate: you either hunt or you farm. Search is about hunting, finding candidates for the purpose of filling open positions immediately.

Farming takes more time. It requires laying groundwork and cultivating relationships. This approach is what recruiting with social networks is about. While cultivating relationships that will grow over time is a great way to generate a pool of talent to fill eventual needs, this approach offers little benefit when you find yourself with an unexpected vacancy that you need to fill immediately.

As the economy makes its way to recovery, more companies are finding themselves with an urgent need to re-grow their staffs in order to keep up with increasing demand. The time to learn effective search techniques for filling one’s candidate pool quickly and efficiently is now

The recruiting landscape has changed significantly over the years, but there has always been one constant: The need to recruit in a way that attracts the best talent – as well as a way to distinguish the best candidates from the rest. Sourcing candidates has always been one of the greatest challenges of the recruiting process. Before computer database systems and the Internet became standard use in the workplace, recruiters had little choice but to keep paper resumes on file in cabinets. Imagine how long it took to manually sort through the dozens – perhaps hundreds – of resumes, collected over weeks, months and even years, in order to find new talent. Because sorting through resumes was such a laborious task, recruiters ended up keeping only a few of what they perceived to be the best resumes on their desk, while many highly qualified candidates sat in those file cabinets untouched

Over the last 10 years, however, the standard metal file cabinets have been replaced by sleek and fast electronic filing systems called resume databases.

Resume databases can store up to millions of resumes, accessible at any time, from anywhere. Because resume databases have almost limitless capacity, however, finding candidates through them requires a different approach to search than it did a decade ago.

While today’s resume databases are sophisticated, easy-to-use and efficient, to the untrained eye, they can appear to be overwhelming and, ultimately, more trouble than they’re worth. In reality, however, searching for resumes is easier than it has ever been – but it requires knowing how to efficiently use and navigate the vast

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abundance of resumes within the resume database. Once you do, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it

Searches are conducted one of two ways: by keyword and by concept

a. Keyword Search

The basis to all resume searches is keyword searching. How many times have you conducted a keyword search and been frustrated because you did not get the results you had hoped for? The problem with keyword searching is that there is no intuition involved in the process. With keyword searches, the computer searches for exactly what is typed in the search box, unable to assume things about the type of results you are hoping to get, the way the human brain might

Three Basic Rules for Keyword Searches

i. Rule #1 Put Phrases in Quotes

Searching for a title with more than one word requires putting the phrase in quotes; otherwise, the database conducts a two-part search.

Typing in Project Manager (without quotes), for example, will turn up results where the words Project and Manager appear anywhere within the text. Putting quotes around the phrase “Project Manager” tells the search engine that these two words have to be together and exactly in the order that they are entered between the quotes.

ii. Rule #2 Use NOT to Exclude Words or Phrases

When conducting a keyword search, it’s also important to remember that some job titles are subsets of other titles. For example, a search for “Radiology Technician” could generate a large number of results for Radiology Technician Assistants. Adding the word NOT to the search, however, will omit irrelevant job titles from search results by generating every result that applies to the first query that does not include the second part of the query.

Example: “Radiology Technician” NOT Assistant

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iii. Rule #3 AND and OR Connect Terms; Parentheses Group Terms Together

Two more important terms to remember when searching are AND and OR. These terms are especially useful when searching for positions that often go by varying titles. A Software Developer, for example, may also go by the title Programmer or Software Engineer, or simply, Developer.

Example: Developer OR Programmer OR “Software engineer”

This same position may require the candidate to know programming language as well. To ensure that the results also include mention of this skill set, simply put parentheses around the OR statements and then add AND followed by the programming language.

Example: (Developer OR Programmer OR “Software engineer”) AND Java

b. Concept search

Concept Searches utilize matching technology to compare two or more documents to find how closely various concepts – job titles and listed skills, responsibilities, and educational information – match among the documents and generate a score based on how closely they match

Concept search is one the newest ways to search for resumes, but it’s not necessarily new in and of itself. CareerBuilder®, for example, has enabled concept searching since 2004 with its Resume Match matching technology. CareerBuilder’s Resume Match technology looks at resumes you’ve either uploaded or searched to generate other, similar resumes. Resume Match enables recruiters to quickly find resumes based on specified criteria. The context-sensitive engine identifies candidates in several ways to find and sort applicants based on your desired requirements.

i. How Concept Search Works

The Recommendation Engine matches the concepts and job titles from the source document whether it is something you uploaded, something already contained in

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the resume database, or a set of concepts you entered manually to other documents within the database. This is similar to how movie rental site Netflix finds films to recommend for you: It picks out concepts from films you have previously rented – film genres, actors, directors, etc. and finds other films in this database that contain these matching elements.

Concept searches enable users to search for resumes based on specified criteria, or the various concepts (such as job title, skills, or education level) their ideal candidate possess. CareerBuilder’s Resume Match technology, for example, enables you to select the resumes you would like matched in three different ways:

1. Upload a resume and search for similar resumes based on the uploaded resume. 2. Upload a job description of the position you are trying to fill. 3. Click on the link of a resume you like in the Resume Database, and instantly get a list of the top 100 matching resumes in the CareerBuilder® Resume Database.

When viewing a job posting, click a link to find the resumes that best match the job. The matching technology does all the selection, based on your selected concepts.

ii. Concept Cloud

One of the major differentiators of the concept search is that it generates a Concept Cloud. A Concept Cloud is the visual representation of the desired skills, titles and responsibilities that are used in a concept search are grouped together. The Concept Cloud is a graphical representation of the document (job posting, resume, etc.) meant to help you visualize the concepts that are most relevant to your search. below are some of the benefits of using concept search

It provides a quick snapshot of the resume from the computer’s point of view. It introduces you to new words and terms you can then use in a keyword

search. It enables you to quickly compare one candidate to another, based on how

closely candidates match up to various concepts.

6. Recommendations

a. Advantages

The most immediately apparent benefit of online recruitment is the vastly improved degree of recruitment process management this approach offers. Throughout every

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phase of the recruitment process, an online system facilitates a much more streamlined, standardized approach than traditional, paper-based recruitment.

Many once-manual tasks, such as sorting, coding, filing, and routing application materials, can now be performed automatically. Some experts estimate that the average recruitment cycle is one-third to one-half as long as it was in the pre-Internet era.

This enhanced process efficiency contributes significantly to another major benefit of online recruitment — its cost-effectiveness. Although the costs of developing andImplementing a full-scale recruitment system on a firm’s corporate web site are often not inconsiderable, recent studies and industry surveys indicate that most firms ‘recruitment costs have decreased sharply after the shift toward online systems.

Some leading-edge online recruitment tools hold the promise of extending the efficiency of this approach even further.

Applications like qualification quizzes, instant “fit” assessments, skill-based evaluations, and other metrics can be administered instantly to candidates over the Internet, thus further winnowing down the number of résumés that must be hand-coded by HR personnel. Although not yet widely used, industry experts see this trend as an important component of online recruitment’s future.

b. Disadvantages

Some experts fear that the growing popularity of online recruitment may exclude too many potential applicants; others fear that online application methods aren’t exclusive enough. Now that virtually anyone can submit an application with just a few clicks of the mouse, the traditional barriers that worked to keep out wholly unsuitable candidates have now been largely eliminated.

Admittedly, this can pose a logistical problem for some companies. The glut of entry level applications — most from wildly unqualified candidates — that descend upon companies in weeks following college graduation have attained near-legendary status.

But overall, most firms report that the number of inappropriate applications is manageable and a small price to pay for the overall efficiency and cost-effectiveness gains they’ve realized from online recruiting. Furthermore, as the use of automated screening applications becomes more prevalent, the negative impact of inappropriate applications will be virtually eliminated.

A somewhat more complex issue is the complaint that online recruitment erases the“human” aspect of human resources management. Although the automation of many phases of the recruitment process has led to massive gains in efficiency and cost effectiveness, some critics have questioned whether this approach is too

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impersonal. This concern has validity in an era in which intangible factors such as a candidate’s organizational “fit” and the sense of “clicking” with the existing team dynamic are considered more important than ever before

c. The Impact and Implications of Online Recruitment

It is abundantly clear that online recruitment has inexorably altered the hiring Process, its impact upon the overarching practices and principles of human resources and personnel management are not yet fully defined. At the current juncture, it seems as if the primary change has been a technological one, in which the newspaper help wanted ads and snail-mailed paper résumés of the past have been neatly replaced with their electronic successors.

In other words, although the tools we use have changed, most of the underlyingPrinciples that govern the recruitment process have remained basically unchanged.Today, the HR profession stands at a critical junction. We have been presented with the unique and formidable opportunity to help usher in a new paradigm that combines the best of both worlds — the efficiency and unparalleled reach of the Internet with the high-touch, intuitive, and exceedingly human focus of traditional recruitment methods.

Technology has been and will continue to be an important factor in this process, but we should bear in mind that it is a tool, rather than an end unto itself. Our overarching objective remains unchanged: as recruitment professionals, we are charged with the responsibility of finding and keeping the best candidates.

Online recruitment should be regarded as just one of the many techniques we use to achieve this goal — no more and no less.

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Date post:	01-Sep-2014
Category:	Technology
Upload:	kamran-arshad
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